May 15, 2007: Don't Buy Gasoline Day

Recently while logging on to Facebook and Myspace, a bulletin and event have caught my attention. Apparently people are a bit sick and tired of the spike in prices of gasoline, with the average price being somewhere around three dollars a gallon. Its been called an early spike before the summer traveling season, and is only expected to go higher when summer officially arrives. Well in response and protest to this, a few groups have posted events on these networking sites stating that in 1997, there was a "gas out" where millions of Americans decided not to buy gas on one day, and supposedly, gas prices dropped $.30 over night, because of the huge profit lost by the fuel companies. This idea has been proposed again, stating that if on May 15th, everyone, at least on Myspace and Facebook, should not buy any gasoline at all. If its successful, then hopefully it will cost the fuel giants a profit of somewhere around $2,163,302,190.00. This gigantic loss of profit in the course of one day should prompt them to lower gas prices, if only temporarily. This logic is based on the assumption of course, that we all fill up everyday, and I feel it won't have the exact desired effect, but I will do my part to not fill up that day, unless I absolutely have to, like if its an emergency. I do find it disgusting the kind of profits these companies incur over the year, considering how we are all bitching about the price of gas, but I have my doubts as to whether this "gas out" will work. But I was glad to see these networking sites being used for a reason with depth for once, and not to superficially boost one's self image based on the number of friends they have.

True Fan vs. New Fan

As a little girl, some of my best memories are four wheeling through the mountains with my dad, listening to country music. I have always loved country music, because I feel that, at least to me, it speaks to so many people in all kinds of situation, and I have always held the belief that if you want to say something important to someone, you should say it with a country song. Moving to Denver, I was excited to take advantage of places like The Grizzly Rose, which is one of the best country dance clubs in America. They have a great setting for intimate concerts with some of my favorite country artists, and a fairly large dance floor. Going to this place though has caused more irritation lately than fun. First off, every one there on Sundays, which used to be the only night for anyone under the age of 21, line dances. I feel like line dancing is an excuse to not learn how to really dance with a partner, and the kind of people there doing the dances confused me. Country music has a growing fan base these days, but new fans tend to only pay attention to new and somewhat different country artists that I, and other older fans, have a hard time as classifying as true country music. Its frustrating to see when a Merle Haggard song is played, no one wants to dance because they don't know it, but as soon as Rascal Flatts is played, they know every word. I should be happy that my kind of music is more popular tha ever right? So why am I so frustrated with ignorant new fans who all of a sudden claim to be country because they bought a Kenny Chesney record?

Why can't guys and girls just be friends?????

Since I can remember socializing, I have always felt much more comfortable hanging out with the boys in my school than the girls. One reason being that I don’t play those stupid little games girls play behind each other’s backs, and I don’t tolerate it either. I tell people how it is, and I don’t apologize for that, so many girls have had a problem with me. My boys have always been my best friends, since first grade I have hung out with two guys named Jake and Dennis, and I would rather have them stand up for me at my wedding than anyone else. But lately, I have noticed that this kind of friendship is seen as unlikely and even looked down upon at certain points. Recently I have thought of living with another great guy friend, Bryce, who I have known since I was 2, and is literally like my brother. He almost lives with my parents in Leadville, so why not live with him when he moves down here? Well for one, my boyfriend had a bitch fit about it, even after I explained I have known Bryce longer than I have know him, and that it would be safer as well. He compared it to him living with some girl he has known for about two years, and I became so irritated, I hung up on him. Also, trying to find guy friends down here is close to impossible. Apparently, in Denver, it’s highly impossible that a guy and a girl can be friends without anything else being between them. Well, I guess I better learn to be better at being a girl, or I am screwed.

Best DUI Stop Ever

Absolute Impotence

One of the best ad parody’s I could find, this photograph of a “flaccid” bottle of Absolut Vodka illustrates a side effect of drinking too much. This advertisement also uses a quote from William Shakespeare, “Drink provokes the desire but takes away the performance". There is use of comparison-contrast, where this ad contrasts with the original Absolut ads and the message they try to get across. The picture of the weirdly shaped bottle also employs an example or illustration of what the product can do, which is deprive a male drinker of his ability to successfully attain an erection. Another rhetorical strategy observed here is an analogy, where the bottle and its new shape are analogous to what will happen to a man’s penis if he drinks too much. It is more of a visual analogy. The comparison-contrast tactic uses the appeal of pathos, as it is funny to think about the point trying to be made. Logos is implemented as well in all three rhetorical strategies, because it is a fact that alcohol intake can inhibit that appendage from working properly when it is needed to. Ethos comes into play with the brand usage of Absolut. This parody uses the original Absolut ads that boast “the Absolut Man” with a photo of James Bond, and other images like that to show that only the best drink Absolut, because it is the absolute best. The parody ad makes fun of the fact that you are not very close to being the Absolute Man when you cannot even get it up for a night of fun. The social commentary is that we place so much value on being the best, most masculine, whatever. But using alcohol to accomplish that isn’t going to get us very far because all it really does is inhibit us from being our Absolute Best.

Sex Appeal Much?

What is being sold here? A woman’s body or the small scrap of denim she is wearing, but is not doing its job of keeping her covered? This advertisement from Calvin Klein is soaked in sex appeal, which has shown to be one of marketing’s greatest tools for selling almost anything. This particular ad displays a young girl, wearing a small white tank top, a small denim skirt, and white panties which are proudly shown as the girl opens her legs in a very unladylike manner. The tiny glimpse of her underwear add to the sex appeal, as does the skin showing from her midsection, a perfectly flat stomach, an attribute society has decided is so important to be considered sexy. The model’s hand in her mouth can also be construed as sex appeal. The use of this sex appeal has proved to be effective; Calvin Klein has a reputation of being sexy and sleek, and this ad conveys those two attributes. There is a feeling created by this ad that if you buy this skirt from Calvin Klein, you too will be as sexy as this girl on the floor, bearing it all. This ad almost creates the “false need” over exaggeration of pathos. A person exposed to this photograph and ad could feel that they have to have this brand of jeans to be sexy and popular. If they do not, then they suffer the fate of being ordinary. This tactic works well for Calvin Klein.

Analysis of the Elements

The elements of this photograph can be used to convey an argument of nature versus man’s machine. The entire scene is a gray color, except for the light that lights up the bulldozers and the area around them. This bright light contrasts with the rest of the photograph, therefore highlighting the area with the bulldozers in it, while the rest of the photo is gray, the area containing nature and the weather. This could argue that machines are taking the driver’s seat in this world, and nature is moving to the back of the line. The fact that the picture itself is in black and white, with grey tones, can convey the point that this argument is not just black and white, wrong or right. There are shades of grey to this issue, as there are in the photograph. The choice of using bulldozers as the focal point of the photograph plays well into the argument. Bulldozers are usually tools used to destroy, whether it is digging up earth or unearthing trees. They play no part in helping nature or preserving it. The photographer’s decision to display them in the center, where the land has already been cleared for what seems to be a construction site of some sort, argues strongly for the side of machine over nature. Perspective is important as well, with the bulldozers a little off in the distance instead of directly in front gives more to the scene, and the sight of what the machines have done in clearing that area. This photograph is beautiful, and its argument can be so ugly.

Reflection

The first reflection I had about this photo came to me the first time I saw it, and that thought was about “tractor tipping” from the Disney movie Cars. It made me laugh because I could see the scene from the movie where Mater and Lightening (two characters from the movie, for those of you who haven’t seen it) go out into a field in the middle of the night, where the tractors are all sleeping, and then they proceed to honk in front of the tractors to startle them awake, and then they fall over, helpless. It was a comical scene and a great parody on the sacred art of cow tipping, which small town people like me find greatly amusing. It is funny how we use inanimate objects, like the tractors and cars in the movie, to tell stories. It is as if we can’t use human figures to portray life lessons learned through mistakes and heartache. The thing is that it seems we need to use objects that normally are not personified to teach children because they could never believe the lesson if actual people were experiencing the situation. People are seen as incapable of learning a lesson or bettering themselves, we have been changed to look as though we are only selfish and stubborn. We don’t want to change for anyone or anything, unless it benefits our self. What kind of message is this to kids?? Even though it is funny to watch motor vehicles play pranks on each other and parody our every day events, it may not be the best way to show children how to treat each other, because they don’t see people treating each other that way, just cars.

Observations of Photo

This photograph Two Bulldozers by Phillip Mazaud is a black and white shot, taken at night. The focal point of the picture appears to be two lonely bull dozers, under a street light, illuminating the machines and the snow around them. The hills in the background are hardly seen because the clouds are low around them, almost like fog. Snow covers the ground, the mounds of dirt around the bull dozers, the trees upon the hills, the hills themselves, dumpsters and scraps of wood, and a small, shabby looking building in the left hand side of the picture. The electrical line leading to the lone light above the bulldozers seems to almost disappear as it enters the light, whereas before it was a contrasting line against the background of the foggy clouds. The bulldozers look abandoned, and the scene seems to be very quiet. You can imagine being there, outside when the snow starts falling, and all you can hear is a slight wind. Two more little lights appear by the low building, and large sections of dirt can be seen on the side of the mounds, giving the impression that the snow covering them is the first of the winter. This scene looks as if it were shot in my hometown, with the snow covered hills. It reminds me of a spot by an old mine where kids would go to get scared at night with the stories of a ghost miner who is only visible by the miner cap light on his head.